The Golden Rule
by Kimidori-chan
Summary: Roderich Edelstein is a perfect young boy. Well raised, well spoken, well mannered, everything a proper aristocrat should be. Perhaps his parents will curse the day they sent him to a public school...
1. Chapter 1

The tall granite building loomed over the young children playing in its grounds. From through the bars separating the laughing youngsters from the outside world, Roderich Edelstein watched them, and decided rather quickly that he most certainly did not like this school place he was being sent to. He shuffled back a little, which caught the sharp eye of his elderly caretaker.

"What's wrong, young master?" She asked him. In the playground, just a few feet away, a boy with white-grey hair turned to look at Roderich curiously.

"I do not want to go in there," Roderich whispered to her, his eyes fixed on the staring boy.

"Why ever not?" She replied kindly. Roderich's bright, amethyst eyes turned up to her soft, lavender ones. She was a sweet, dumpy old woman, with wispy hair and a kind heart. She doted on Roderich, and he absolutely adored her.

"I am scared," he admitted. "What if no-one likes me?" His caretaker sighed, and bent down to his level gingerly.

"Roderich," she started, startling the boy a little at her informality. "You are a polite, lovely young gentleman, and it is always a pleasure to be in your company. If anyone thinks otherwise, then you do not want to be associated with them, because it is they who will be missing out, not you." Roderich smiled; it was something that only she had seen, and her heart melted. "Now, off to school with you."

"Yes, Nana," he giggled, hugging the old woman before entering the schoolyard.

The white haired boy approached Roderich almost immediately, and as he got closer, Roderich couldn't help but notice that the boy had brilliant red eyes. "Excuse me, not to be rude, but are yo-"

"Why did your Grandma call you 'master'?" The assumed albino interrupted. Roderich chose to ignore the interruption, and answer his question anyway.

"She is not my Grandmother, she is my caretaker," Roderich explained, causing the albino to tilt his head to the side.

"Caretaker?" Roderich nodded. The other boy had a thick German accent, whereas Roderich, although Austrian, had been brought up to speak with as little of an accent as possible, so he could be understood well by everyone.

"My mother and father were too busy to raise me, so they hired Nana to care for me." The albino seemed to accept this.

"Okay, but why did she call you master?" Roderich shrugged.

"All of the house staff call me master," he replied matter-of-factly.

"But why?" The albino demanded. Roderich considered this for a moment, before shrugging again.

"I do not know." The two boys stood in silence for a moment before Roderich held out his hand. "My name is Roderich Edelstein, by the way. It is a pleasure to meet you." His hand was ignored as the albino put his hands on his hips and grinned wildly.

"I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt, of the awesome country of Prussia!" Roderich drew his hand back, and gave a confused look.

"I am sorry, but was the nation of Prussia not dissolved by the Allied Powers in 1947?" Gilbert glowered at him.

"No, it wasn't!" He snapped at the slightly smaller boy, who simply nodded his head of chestnut hair.

"Yes, I believe it was. It is in one of the books in the library in my house; the land was split between Russia, Lithuania and Poland," Gilbert opened his mouth to argue back, but quickly shut it and looked around before spotting another victim.

"Hey, you with the ponytail!" He yelled, prompting a light brown haired child with a short ponytail to look round at them. "Come here!" They looked a little confused, but walked over to Gilbert and Roderich regardless. "Sure Prussia is a country?" Gilbert grinned at them, nodding not very subtly.

"Prussia?" the green eyed child asked. "You mean Russia?" Gilbert glared at them.

"Prussia is an ex-nation," Roderich explained kindly. "It stopped being a country after World War Two." The other child looked at Roderich and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, aren't you a smarty-pants?" They smirked, causing Gilbert to snort with laughter.

"He is, isn't he?" Gilbert grinned. "I'm Gilbert, what's your name?" The child hesitated for a moment.

"I'm Eli," Eli said with a smile, looking to Roderich.

"Roderich Edelstein," he said softly. Eli frowned a little.

"That's too long. You're Roddy, okay?" Roderich didn't care for nicknames, or the shortening of 4wwwwwwwwwwnames, but one should always be courteous, especially towards women.

"That is quite alright," he nodded. "Is 'Eli' shortened from any name, or is your name just Eli?" Eli shook her head.

"My name's Elijah, but Eli is easier." Roderich and Gilbert looked at each other in confusion. "What's wrong?" Elijah asked.

"Elijah is a boy's name," Gilbert said with a frown, with Roderich nodding next to him. Elijah laughed a little.

"Igen, did you think I was a girl?" Gilbert's head shook frantically, while Roderich cleared his throat a little.

"I am terribly sorry for my mistake, Elijah," he apologised. "And I am quite sure Gilbert is too." Elijah giggled softly as Gilbert huffed, scowling at Roderich.

"I didn't think he was a girl," the albino growled at the brunette, getting aggressive. "Are you saying tha-"

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Gilbert had began to close in on Roderich when another boy steppe between them, his green eyes burning in a scowl that was almost permanent, as would be discovered through the course of the years these four five year olds would spend in school. Gilbert frowned right back at this new, mysterious blond boy.

"And who are you to tell me what to do?" He spat.

"I'm Vash, and you shouldn't be picking on others already. School hasn't even started yet!" The two boys stared each other down for a while before Gilbert tired, and huffed again, looking away.

"Whatever. No point to this if the little prissy boy needs a bodyguard," he snorted, rolling his eyes as Elijah watched the other three boys with concern etched onto his face.

"I don't need a bodyguard, thank you very much," Roderich said softly. "But thank you, Vash, for helping me." Vash turned to face Roderich as the school bell rang, giving a short nod in reply to the others smile.

The classroom had been organised to that there was a large circle of chairs, one for each new student as they gave short introductions to their classmates, before they were ordered to take their chair to a table. Each table had room for four chairs, and it was hardly a surprise when Roderich, Gilbert, Eli and Vash came to be sitting at the same table.

After school, in the car that had brought them to the building that morning, Roderich told his Nana that she had been right, that he had enjoyed his first day of school, and asked whether or not he would be eating with his parents that evening. He wasn't surprised by the negative answer, only disappointed.

After school, as he walked home with his father, and his little brother, Gilbert excitedly gave a hyperbole ridden account of his day. He hugged Ludwig tightly, laughing, and telling the blond four year old that he couldn't wait until he was in school too.

After school, when Eli closed the front door, he explored the house, finding that he couldn't tell his father about his day. He went to the kitchen to make dinner.

After school, Vash got home as quickly as he could, kissing his young sister on the forehead before going straight to his mother's bedroom, to ask her how her day had been, and if she needed any chores done.

The four children would grow up together, and through their years, would become friends, enemies, lovers, and other things too complex for simple words. All there is to say is that their lives would intertwine, and they would be bound to one another for life. None of them are an exception to this rule, and though one may break free from the bond, he will always be bound by one, solitary thread…


	2. Chapter 2

Gilbert's birthday had passed a little more than a week ago, and it had been five days since Vash had been seen. Fresh snow crunched beneath Roderich's feet as he walked across the playground to meet his friends, violin case in hand. A tutor visited the school weekly to give lessons, and the young Austrian, who had taken piano lessons since the age of five, jumped at the opportunity to learn a second instrument. He was a virtuoso; a musical genius in the making, he had heard his piano tutor tell his parents. The small smile was suddenly wiped from his face, train of thought broken by the lump of snow that hit him. Looking up, and wiping ice from his cheeks, he was very unsurprised to find it was Gilbert who had thrown it; the ear to ear grin gave it away, really. Eli was crouched on the ground next to him, giggling, and making his own snowball.

"Got ya!" Gilbert cackled, doubling over with laughter. Pouting, Roderich crouched, and gathered a small pile of snow, crunching it between his gloved hands to make a small ball. He stood up, eyes fixed determinedly on Gilbert, who had stopped laughing. He and Eli were looking at Roderich, anticipation clear on their faces. Roderich swung his arm, launching the frosty projectile as hard as he could. It landed but a few feet from him, nowhere near his target of Gilbert, who was once again in peals of laughter. "How can you be so bad at this?" He choked out between fits of giggles, holding onto a hysterical Eli for support.

Roderich too was beginning to chuckle at his own physical ineptitude.

"I don't mind. Being strong doesn't matter. Nana always says 'brains over brawn'." The brunette nodded, as if to back up his statement. "Where's Vash?" Eli shrugged, sniffling a little.

"Still not here. He might be ill."

"But, he's never been ill before," Roderich mumbled, looking around like he was expecting Vash to come along soon.

There was still no sign of Vash when the bell rang, and they were ushered inside.

The teacher sat them down, her face solemn.

"I'm afraid Vash won't be back to school. His mother was sick, and I'm afraid she passed on, so Vash has gone to live with someone else, and he's going to a different school." Some children looked at each other in confusion, one asked what 'passed on' meant, only for Eli to say it meant she was dead, and call the other child stupid, which he was scolded for. Roderich was silent.

His best friend was gone.

It is around two weeks since Roderich was told he would never see Vash again. Sunday morning, and he is dressing in his room, preparing to have breakfast. As he pads downstairs, he can hear his Nana thanking someone, probably his father. He walks into the dining room, and is greeted cheerfully by his Nana. His father is sitting at the head of the table, reading the paper in silence, but Roderich hardly pays attention to either of them. Instead, his curious eyes are drawn to the blonde girl standing by his Nana. She looks to be around four or five, and is looking back at him with as much curiosity as he gives her. Her eyes… Something about them catches his attention.

"Roderich, this is Lili," his Nana explains. "I'm a foster carer for the local orphanage, and she's going to stay with us for now, since your father was kind enough to allow it." Roderich nodded slowly, and walked over to Lili, who shuffled shyly behind Nana's legs. He held a hand out.

"Hello. I'm Roderich Edelstein, your new brother," he greeted her with a kind smile. She played with one of her long, golden pleats, looking up at him with her large, green eyes, and took his hand with a slight smile.

"Hello, Roderich," she giggled. Her voice was sweet, almost melodic. "I'm Lili Zwingli, your new sister."

Roderich tensed. That's where he knew those eyes.

They also belonged to Vash.

Roderich did not tell Eli and Gilbert about Lili's surname, only that she was his new little sister. It was a temporary arrangement, he'd been told, but Lili was with the family even when Roderich left primary school, and was very close to Roderich. She used to watch him practising piano, that was, until he caught her. After that, he began to teach her how to play, and she was almost as good as Roderich himself.

It was the last summer before high school. Roderich, Eli and Gilbert were going to be in the same class, but were very aware they would probably be separated. They'd stay friends, surely.

It was the night before their first day at high school, and the eleven year old Roderich, and 12 year old Eli and Gilbert are at the latter's house, playing in the back garden with Ludwig in the heat of the August evening, when Eli suddenly tenses up.

"What's wrong?" Roderich asks him anxiously as Eli hisses in pain.

"N-nothing, just sore… I think I'm gonna get home, before dad worries about me…" He smiles weakly. Gilbert frowns.

"You're goin' home 'cause you're sore again? Remember when you broke your arm and laughed it off until Vati almost dragged you to the hospital?" He shakes his head. "What's up with you right now?" Eli opens his mouth to argue back, until Ludwig interrupts.

"Bruder, if Eli wants to go, let him go. You'll see him tomorrow anyway." Gilbert huffs and shrugs.

"Fine. See you tomorrow." Roderich says good bye, as does Ludwig, before Eli leaves, arms crossed over his chest.

He arrives home, and puts a blanket over his dad, who has passed out on the couch again. He goes upstairs, and looks at the uniform he now has to wear for the next six years with a grimace. He can't hide himself any longer… He just hopes Gilbert and Roderich take it well…


End file.
